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-He will take the role of Ferrando in Così fan tutte, one of the Mozart characters that has brought him most success.

July 2018
The tenor Joel Prieto will begin the 18/19 season with one of his favourite roles in his debut at the Opéra de Lausanne: he will be Ferrando in Così fan tutte. The Mozart opera will be performed at the Swiss opera house on the 28th and 30th October and the 2nd, 4th and 7th November. It is a Jean Liermier production and will be conducted by Joshua Weilerstein. There is more music by Mozart than by any other composer in the Puerto Rican tenor´s repertoire. Prieto won the 2009 Placido Domingo Operalia competition and considers that the genius from Salzburg forms part of his DNA. “The truth is that I feel really at home with Mozart, really comfortable. His music has accompanied me from the beginning of my career and I adore all of the Mozart characters that I have performed, but it is true that my horizons are widening to include other repertoire which I also feel very comfortable with. My voice is evolving, and I love taking on new challenges”, the singer explains.
However, going back to Mozart from time to time is synonymous with vocal health. Ferrando in Così fan tutte is, in fact, one of the characters from Mozart operas that Joel Prieto has performed the most. “And it is very good for my voice. I have sung the role in all types of productions, traditional, modern and even ground-breaking. In each case, the nobility and humanity of the character shine through. The role has one of the seemingly most simple Mozart arias, ‘Un aura amorosa,’ which is actually very demanding when it comes to concentration and line”. A decade has now passed since Joel Prieto first sung Ferrando in his 2009 debut at the Palau de Les Arts in Valencia, and he has since sung it at theatres such as the Scottish Opera in Glasgow, Luxembourg Opera, Palm Beach Opera in Florida (USA), the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Washington National Opera and the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, as well as performing it at festivals such as 2Mondi in Spoleto, Aix-en-Provence, Edinburgh, the BBC Proms in London and Mostly Mozart in New York.
Other upcoming engagements include Don Pasquale by Donizetti at La Monnaie and De Munt in Brussels, Händel´s Rodelinda at the Liceu in Barcelona, Verdi´s Falstaff at the Teatro Real in Madrid (Verdi) and Mozart´s Idomeneo at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome.

– The Spanish-born Puerto Rican tenor will make his debut in Malaga in June, after more performances of Street Scene, by Kurt Weill, at Teatro Real.

May 2018

Joel Prieto’s career is constantly leading him to explore new formats. This season has taken him to venues such as the Dresden Semperoper (Les Troyens, by Berlioz), the Grand Auditorium in Luxemburg (Die Csárdásfürstin, by Kálmán, alongside the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg), the Teatro Real in Madrid (Street Scene, by Kurt Weill), the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico (Mozart´s Requiem with the Puerto Rico Symphony) and to Santiago de Chile (Don Giovanni, by Mozart), among other engagements. On the 8th, 9th and 10th June he will return to Spain for another change in style. This will be to sing at the Malaga Classical Festival, where he will participate in two concerts dedicated to Spain (Teatro Echegaray in Malaga) alongside renowned musicians such as Jesús Reina (violin), Misha Dacić (piano), Eric Silberger (violin), Alberto Martos (cello), Moritz Winkelmann (piano), Eleanor Kendra James (viola), Char Prescott (cello) Anna Margrethe Nilsen (violin), Christopher Schmitt (piano) and Gabriel Ureña (cello), Joel Prieto will be the only opera singer among them. On the 8th he will be singing music by foreign composers who were, in one way or another, fascinated by Spain and its culture and music, including Beethoven, Rossini, Poulenc, Scarlatti and Fauré. In the concert on the 10th he will perform some of the most famous zarzuela romances composed by Sorozábal, Soutullo, Vert and Guerrero, among others. Between both concerts, on the 9th June, he will give a masterclass, organized by the Malaga festival.

Before his debut in Malaga, Joel Prieto will return to the Teatro Real in Madrid, the city of his birth, to give more performances as the male lead of Street Scene (26th, 27th, 29th, and 30th May and 1st June), which he also did last February at the same theatre in the premiere of Kurt Weill’s American opera in the Spanish capital. This summer, as well, Prieto, who was the winner of the 2008 Operalia competition, will continue in Spain to give two concerts in Palma, Majorca, organized by the Salzburg Festival (5th and 6th July) and a third, in the same city, for the Baden-Baden Festival (11th August).

April 2018
Mozart has pride of place among Joel Prieto´s engagements, and the acclaimed tenor will once again be performing an opera by the composer on the 16th, 20th, 23rd and 26th April. This will be a production of the second opera in the Mozart/Da Ponte trilogy, Don Giovanni, and the performances will open the season at the Teatro Municipal in Santiago, home of the Ópera Nacional de Chile. The production is directed by Pierre Constant and conducted by Attilio Cremonesi, who will be working to discover the secrets that Mozart imagined for his version of the Don Juan myth. Alongside Joel Prieto, who will take the role of Don Ottavio, will be Levent Bakirci (Don Giovanni), Michelle Bradley (Donna Anna), Paulina González (Donna Elvira), Edwin Crossley-Mercer (Leporello) and Marcela González (Zerlina), among others.
Prieto made his debut at the Municipal in Santiago in 2009 with Pagliacci´s Arlecchino, returning in 2014 with The Magic Flute. The tenor states that he is “delighted” with his return to Chile. “I have fantastic memories of the work we did four years ago at the Municipal, a theatre in which marvellous things can be done, and I am sure that audiences will have a great time with this Don Giovanni, which is fresh and full of dramatism,” he notes.

Born in Madrid (Spain), brought up in Puerto Rico and trained in New York, Joel Prieto will be returning to Santiago de Chile after his triumph at the Madrid Teatro Real in one of the lead roles in Kurt Weill´s Street Scene, and after his return to Puerto Rico for the last concert in this year´s Casals Festival, with a Mozart Requiem alongside the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra.
After Don Giovanni in Chile, the 2008 Operalia competition winner will return to the Caribbean island to give a concert with the San Juan Children´s Choir (May), he will return to the Teatro Real in Madrid for a new run of performances of Street Scene and will give a recital at the Málaga Clásica Festival (Spain).

-The tenor will close the Casals Festival on the 17th March, after his Street Scene at the Teatro Real in Madrid

March 2018

The tenor Joel Prieto, who was born in Madrid and raised in Puerto Rico, returns to his island to close the 2018 Casals Festival, conducted by the artistic director of the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, Maximiano Valdés. The event appeals for international support and understanding, after the tragedy which recently occured in Puerto Rico, when it was ravaged by the hurracanes Irma and Maria. “Together we are fighting to pick up the pieces of our country,” Prieto affirms, “and musical activity, which comforts the soul and gives people strength to carry on, is very important at times like these.” Prieto will go to the Casals Festival to perform in the closing ceremony, in which he will sing Mozart´s Requiem on the 17th March alongside the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, the San Juan Philharmonic Choir and soloists such as the soprano Zulimar López, the mezzo-soprano Celia Sotomayor and the bass Hermán Iturralde.

The tenor will travel to the Caribbean in a break between his performances of the Kurt Weill opera Street Scene at the Teatro Real in Madrid (which opened in February and will return to the Madrid theatre in May and June). In April he will take the role of Don Ottavio in the opera Don Giovanni, also by Mozart, when he returns to the Ópera Nacional in Santiago de Chile. Afterwards, in early May, he will go back to Puerto Rico to give a concert with the San Juan Children´s Choir.

–The young singer will be Sam Kaplan in Street Scene at the Madrid opera house.

January 2018
The Madrid born, Puerto Rican tenor Joel Prieto, who won the Plácido Domingo Operalia Competition in 2008, makes his debut with operetta repertoire on the 5th January with the lead role in the New Year´s concert in Luxemburg, where he will sing the role of Edwin in Die Csárdásfürstin (The Gipsy Princess), by Emmerich Kálmán, alongside the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg. He will continue to add to his repertoire in February on his return to the Teatro Real in Madrid –his city of birth– to take part in the Madrid premiere of Kurt Weill’s Street Scene (13th to 18th February and 26th May to 1st June.) The piece, which is being co-produced by Monte-Carlo Opera and Oper Köln, is also known as American Opera or Broadway Opera, terms proposed by the composer himself, and contains some elements of the musical genre. “I am very excited about being able to return to Madrid – the city where I was born and which I adore- and also, of course, to the Teatro Real, which is becoming my second home”, the singer explains; “Street scene is a fascinating piece which mixes various genres – including opera, musical theatre and jazz – and it will give me the opportunity to sing in English for the first time. I am sure that our audiences will really enjoy this opera, which is spectacular in every way, and I am delighted to be a part of it”, he adds.
In spring, Prieto will be singing works by one of his favourite composers – Mozart. In March the tenor will travel to the city where he grew up and trained, San Juan in Puerto Rico, to perform Mozart´s Requiem in the Casals Festival. In April he is engaged to take the role of Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni for the Ópera Nacional de Chile, at the Teatro Municipal in Santiago.

– The Madrid born Puerto Rican tenor makes his debut as Edwin in the operetta Die Csárdásfürstin in the New Year´s Concert in Luxembourg.

December 2017
The Puerto Rican tenor Joel Prieto, who has Spanish origins and was winner of the Plácido Domingo Operalia Competition in 2009, will sing the role of Edwin for the first time in the operetta Die Csárdásfürstin (The Gipsy Princess), by Emmerich Kálmán. The award-winning Hispanic artist´s debut with this new theatrical genre will take place at the New Year´s Concert given by the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg conducted by Nikolaj Znaider, and will take place in the Grand Auditorium of the capital of the Grand Duchy.

Later Joel Prieto will travel to the Teatro Real in Madrid, this time with a genre related to opera and American musical, the Madrid premiere of Kurt Weill´s Street Scene (February), which is known as an American opera. In March Prieto will be at the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico for Mozart´s Requiem and in April he will be expected by the Chile National Opera, where he will perform Don Ottavio in Mozart´s Don Giovanni at the Teatro Municipal in Santiago.